


Mind Games

by Agib



Series: Febuwhump 2020 [12]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Brief kidnapping, Mind Games, Peter's Fine Guys, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, but like barely
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:13:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22766053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Agib/pseuds/Agib
Summary: There have been plenty of times in Tony's life (since he met the kid) where Peter had been used as leverage. He's so used to it by now that really anyone could capitalise on how much he cares about the kid, even if nobody lays a hand on him.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Febuwhump 2020 [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1619311
Comments: 3
Kudos: 102





	Mind Games

**Author's Note:**

> Super short, brief and not containing much whump but that's the whole point!

Fourteen missed calls, Tony sighs heavily.

“Hey, Happy gimme a sec,” he groaned as he paused in the hall, redialling the number that had been calling him persistently for the past hour.

“Finally, gracious enough to pick up the phone, hm?” The voice was irked, clearly a male, probably at least in his late twenties.

“Yes, I’m also dignified enough to hang up again if you don’t have something important enough to entertain me and my incredibly brief attention span.” Happy quired his brows, looking to Tony questioningly. He shrugged wordlessly in response.

“Come here,” the voice on the other end ordered, slightly muffled as he presumably turned away from the receiver to speak at someone. “Say hello,” the voice instructed again. There was a pause, one where Tony was seriously contemplating hanging up, and then a smaller voice.

“Hiya,” the much smaller, but recognisable voice said perkily. Tony felt his throat constrict.

“Peter?” He asked, cupping the phone much closer to his ear now. Happy turned, stepping closer and gesturing for Tony to put the conversation on speaker, which he did quickly. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” He asked hurriedly, gripping the cell phone with both hands now.

“No, I’m fine. He hasn’t done anyth –”

“That’s enough,” the previous voice Tony didn’t recognise interrupted. “Mr. Stark, as I’m sure you’re aware, there are many people in this city who aren’t as privileged as you.”

“Get to it.” He cut the man off harshly. “What do you want?” There was a pause, and then a small chuckle.

“I’d love a uh – budget, shall we call it? I’d love a budget for my research. As a man of science, yourself, I’m sure you understand the precautions I’m taking with the kid here.” Tony squeezed his fists together, looking at Happy who seemed as stressed as he did already. “There are several drop points, I would like a million in cash deposited at each.”

There was a scoff in the background which broke into more genuine laughter after a moment of failed composure.

“Sure, you ask him to do that. I’m sure he will,” Peter said sarcastically. _Jesus, kid. You’re going to get yourself hurt._

“I will,” he says sternly. Peter’s laugher dies down quickly. There was shuffling, a crackle as static filled the line and then Peter’s voice was closer.

“He hasn’t hurt me at all, sir.” Tony feels the phone bending slightly under his grip. “I don’t think he will hurt me. He’s –”

“Think carefully about what you’re about to say, boy.” The man warned.

“Peter, listen to him, don’t do anything stupid. I need you back here without a scratch, okay?” He would willingly shell out millions if it meant the kid didn’t get traumatised or harmed any worse than he might already be, despite the carefree, unstressed composure he was presenting now.

“No, what? Are you crazy?!” Peter speaks directly into the receiver, his voice hushed but close. “I don’t think he’s that dangerous, I just can’t really _defend myself_ y’know?”

_Ah_ Tony thought _so, Peter was Peter in this situation then. No Spider-Man, no special powers. He couldn’t escape without raising too much suspicion._

“Doesn’t matter. Don’t say anything to provoke him and just lay low till we can get you home, yeah?” Tony silently prayed that the kid would relent. “Got it?” There was a lingering silence.

“Fine,” Peter says. His tone is still slightly unwilling, but Tony knows the kid will listen.

“Perfect then, you’re both willing to keep compliant.” Tony clenched his jaw, feeling the muscles tensing. Peter was complaining quietly, grumbling under his breath no doubt. “Drop off points will be sent to you from this number. After you’ve completed them all, I’ll let the boy go.”

“Such fun,” he grits out with as much raw, unfiltered distaste in his voice as possible. He can hear the noise the man’s lips make as he opens them.

“Yes, it should be.” The line clicks off.

“Shit,” he mutters, running a hand through his hair. Happy is watching him, gauging the stress level and trying to guess how worried they should be about Peter. “No, it’ll be fine. It’s fine,” Tony said. He was staring down at the phone, refreshing the messages, waiting impatiently.

He almost dropped the phone when it buzzed in the palm of his hand. It slipped, and his grip tightened till his knuckles were pale. There was an address, and Tony was already walking further down the hall, calling for his suit.

“You can’t seriously think I’m letting you go alone,” Happy yelled as he bustled after the man.

“And you can’t seriously think that I’m willing to sit in a car with New York traffic, just patiently hanging out with a million dollars in cash, right?”

\----

Peter was bored. In fact, he was beyond bored.

He’d definitely been sitting in this empty room, with a single chair and bland walls for over an hour now.

Since the phone call, the man had led him into the room, not even feeling the need to grip him or deal any threatening blows to keep him in line. Considering how many times Peter had been in a situation like this, either as Tony Stark’s intern or as Spider-Man, that was usually how it went down.

He tapped his feet eagerly, waiting for any kind of entertainment. Boredom was so painful he almost wished he had the man in the room with him, at least to talk his ear off.

“Hello?” He nudged his body off the chair and kicked the door he had been led in through. “Hey!” He twisted the handle, locked from the outside. He couldn’t hear anything, even with his powers. “Can I have like… a book or something?” Nobody was moving out there, he couldn’t even make out the sound of somebody else’s heartbeat. “Designated bathroom break even?”

Wincing at how bad of an idea was sprouting, Peter gripped the handle of the door tighter. He paused once to listen for _anything_ before he twisted it sharply to the left.

The metal groaned before popping right off in his hand. Gingerly, he pressed against the wood, carefully stepped to the side as the door pushed open without resistance. “Oh okay,” he breathed. It was clearly a run-down apartment, assumingly uninhabited based on the lack of – well, anything really.

His phone was unfortunately still buried at the bottom of his school bag, which was either still in the alleyway he’d been ‘picked up’ in or was in the possession of whoever had picked him up.

Briefly, he considered climbing out of the window he could see at the end of the hallway, but after inspection he realised it wouldn’t look great if he were able to slip out and down what looked like a three-storey high window.

Disregarding the idea, Peter continued into the open space area. There was a benchtop and nothing else. A small, yellow sticky note was covered in scratchy writing and stuck on top of the benchtop. There were four addresses written down, and Peter was pretty sure the fourth was where he stood. Third level of an old hotel in the middle of downtown Brooklyn.

So, assuming those four addresses were the ones the man had asked Tony to drop money off at, all he had to do was wait.

Getting the money together, driving – or flying – between the other three addresses, he estimated roughly two hours before Tony would show up here. _One down, one to go,_ he thought blandly.

\----

So far, he was down three million, three locations. In the grand scheme of things – ‘things’ being his bank account – Tony wasn’t majorly concerned, all it meant was what he put back into the company at the end of the year would be cut short, barely though. All he had to do would be releasing a new prototype and then suddenly the budget would increase heavily. The money wasn’t what phased him. It was the fact that he had no contact with the kid, had no idea if he was hurt, and when he would be given the last location.

He landed outside of an empty building, sighing as the suit folded away. The building was devoid of anything, such as the other three addresses had been. No security cameras, barely any people on the surrounding streets. So, in other words, the perfect money drop off.

He tucked the duffel bag he held and carried it up the steps into the building. He climbed three flights of stairs, texting Happy as he went.

On the third landing, every door was opened except one. He paused, knocked twice, and then kicked the door in.

All the other locations had been uninhabited, yet Tony found this one with a certain teenager sat cross legged on the floor.

“Hey,” Peter says enthusiastically for a hostage. “I was getting bored.”

“You okay?” He asked, dropping the bag unceremoniously as he helped the kid onto his feet.

“Yeah, that guy was just messing around. I don’t think he would’ve hurt me even if you’d hung up on him.” Peter shrugs, walking towards the door. “He was playing mind games with you, trying to make it seem like he was capable of violence.”

“Good to know,” he deadpanned, following the kid out of the room and towards the stairs out. In all honesty, he would have much rather been tricked into giving away millions then finding the kid in any worse shape than he had been today.

**Author's Note:**

> Give @spidersonangst @febufluff-whump (on Tumblr) all the credit, the only reason this is happening this month is because of them!


End file.
